avonic cause. Roumania certainly fared very badly at the hands
of the Power for which it had done yeoman service in the war. The
pride of the Roumanian people brooked no thought of accepting the
Dobrudscha, a district in great part marshy and thinly populated, as an
exchange for a fertile district peopled by their kith and kin. They let
the world know that Russia appropriated their Bessarabian district by
force, and that they accepted the Dobrudscha as a war indemnity. By dint
of pressure exerted at the Congress their envoys secured a southern
extension of its borders at the expense of Bulgaria, a proceeding which
aroused the resentment of Russia.

The conduct of the Czar's Government in this whole matter was most
impolitic. It embittered the relations between the two States and drove
the Government of Prince Charles to rely on Austria and the Triple
Alliance. That is to say, Russia herself closed the door which had been
so readily opened for her into the heart of the Sultan's dominions in
1828, 1854, and 1877[176]. We may here remark that, on the motion of the
French plenipotentiaries at the Congress, that body insisted that Jews
must be admitted to the franchise in Roumania. This behest of the Powers
aroused violent opposition in that State, but was finally, though by no
means fully, carried out.

[Footnote 176: Frederick, Crown Prince of Germany, expressed the general
opinion in a letter written to Prince Charles after the Berlin Congress:
"Russia's conduct, after the manful service you did for that colossal
Empire, meets with censure on all sides." (_Reminiscences of the King of
Roumania_, p. 325).]

Another Christian State of the Peninsula received scant consideration at
the Congress. Greece, as we have seen, had recalled her troops from
Thessaly on the understanding that her claims should be duly considered
at the general peace. She now pressed those claims; but, apart from
initial encouragement given by Lord Salisbury, she received little or no
support. On the motion of the French plenipotentiary, M. Waddington, her
desire to control the northern shores of the Aegean and the island of
Crete was speedily set aside; but he sought to win for her practically
the whole of Thessaly and Epirus. This, however, was firmly opposed by
Lord Beaconsfield, who objected to the cession to her of the southern
and purely Greek districts of Thessaly and Epirus. He protested against
the notion that the plenipotentiaries had come t